SOTW: Ford Mondeo ST24

Remember the days when 168bhp was enough to qualify a family car for 'sporting' status? We hope so, because it wasn't actually that long ago, as today's SOTW proves.

Eleven years ago, the Mondeo ST24's 2.5-litre V6 and consequent ability to sprint to 60mph in 8.0secs on the way to a 139mph top speed was more than enough for the outlandish bodykit - that recalled The BTCC Mondeo Super Touring racers, you'll remember - to be justified. Though even then probably not on grounds of good taste.

Still, the four-spoke alloys (Ford went through an odd phase of alloy wheel design in the late 90s, with four-spoke efforts also available on the Fiesta) did mark the ST24 out as something a little beyond the ken of its regular fleet-market brethren.

But the ST24 we've picked for Shed is somewhat of a runt of the fast Mondeo litter. For starters, the true touring car wannabes would have lusted after the ST200, which packed a more punchy 202bhp and whose body styling tweaks and bigger alloys more closely recalled the kerb-hopping antics of the Rapid Fit-sponsored BTCC cars.

Secondly, the ST24 estate never quite looked as performance-oriented as the saloon and hatchback versions. Partly this was to do with the simply massive estate body, partly because the estate versions often did without a rear spoiler.

On this particular car, the grille has also apparently been changed to a more ordinary 'cooking' nose, making this particular V6 Mondy even more of a 'sleeper' (if you ignore those alloys, that is).

That inappropriate nose job is a potentially worrying issue, and could imply a bit of a crash history, but we've done a spot of HPI-shaped digging and discovered that the car has never been written off, so we shall give this particular silver dream machine the official Shed benefit of the doubt for now.

But if the outside is suspiciously oridinary, there's plenty of kit on the inside to keep you occupied, with electric windows, seats and mirrors, half leather, a heated windscreen and even a 6-cd autochanger.

So although it may not be the darling of fast Ford fans, you'll have to look long and hard to beat the ST24 estate's combination of space, reasonable pace, a pleasant V6 and handling that comes from a time when Ford genuinely seemed to care about making its cars fun to drive.

This is one we'd go in with our eyes open on (that odd grille makes sure of that), but as long as it looks as clean as it appears to be in the advert, £695 rapid repmobile sounds like a bit of a bargain.